


A Single Touch

by hawthorn_and_holly (bigblueboxat221b)



Series: Drarropoly 2018 [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Potions, Potions Accident, Under the influence of Potions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 04:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16737196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigblueboxat221b/pseuds/hawthorn_and_holly
Summary: For Drarropoly 2018.Rolled: 8Position: Potions ClassroomPrompt: Harry and Draco are lab partners and are stuck making a complex and intimidating potion. Include either the potion recipe as they follow it or the two of them taking the potion and its effectsWord limit: Minimum: 99 words Maximum: 999Summary: Follow the recipe proved difficult, and a poorly made potion will have unexpected results.





	A Single Touch

“Merlin, he wants us to make this?” Harry muttered. The parchment rustled as he sorted the pages, laying them out in order. “There must be fifty steps to this!”

“Might as well get started,” Draco replied.

Harry sighed. There was no getting out of this. McGonagall had made it clear they were to remain in the Potions classroom until this potion was complete, and complaining about it wouldn’t help anything.

+++

“Can you even read, Potter?” Draco’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “If you don’t slice the Fanged Mugwort _finely_ they won’t dissolve fast enough!”

“I’m slicing it as thin as I can,” Harry said through gritted teeth, “but it’s hard when it keeps trying to bite me!”

“Suck it up,” Draco snarled, his own attention largely on their potion, which was not the midnight blue the recipe suggested it should be. “Why is this yellow? Did we miss something?”

“Don’t talk to me, I’m counting,” Harry said, his eyes locked on his watch. “Twenty three, twenty four, get ready to add the larkspur, twenty six, twenty seven, Draco!, twenty nine, DRACO! -”

“-What?”

“-THE LARKSPUR! Thirty two, thirty three, now! NOW-NO NOT ALL OF IT!” Harry tossed his hands in the air. All that concentration for nothing.

“What?!” Draco startled, flinging powdered larkspur into the air. “What are you-achoo!”

“You were supposed to measure it out! Not add the whole bottle!”

“No, your job was to measure it, I was just adding it and making sure it gets stirred right.”

Harry brushed dried flowers out of his hair. “Well it doesn’t matter anyway, we added the wrong amount at the wrong time, and look at the notes.”

“Where?” Draco asked, leaning over.

_If this step is not strictly followed, discard the mixture immediately._

Draco rolled his eyes. “Come on, what are we meant to do, start again? It’s going to take us all day!”

Harry sighed. “Well what else would you expect? It’s so ridiculously difficult, of course she wants to mess it up! We’re never going to get it right.”

“You’re right,” Draco said. He frowned. “Did she say what this potion is for? I’ve never seen half these ingredients before.”

“Not to me,” Harry said. “I have no idea.”

They looked into the cauldron, which should have contained a pale blue mixture the same colour as Draco’s eyes, Harry thought. Instead it was vivid green, acidic smelling and shocking…and oddly tempting.

Harry could feel Draco leaning over the cauldron too, their shoulders brushing.

Magic crackled in the air around them, and the cauldron.

“Just a taste?” Draco murmured.

“Oh, yes,” Harry breathed. The urge to reach in and touch was almost overwhelming. The colour was too much, drawing him in too strongly to resist it.

 _Bad idea,_ part of his brain said warningly, and it was strong enough to pull him out of the hypnotic state he’d found himself in.

“No,” he said, the word helping him tear his eyes from the cauldron.

He watched with fascinated horror as Draco dipped one finger in the green goo.

“Merlin, Draco, that’s probably not a good idea,” Harry said. He could hear the longing in his own voice, but resisted.

“But it looks so good,” Draco said, voice dreamy. “Just want to touch it…”

“Well don’t eat it, at least,” Harry said. He had no idea what the mixture would do, but surely it wouldn’t be any good to eat it, let alone touch it.

“Doesn’t hurt,” Draco said dreamily. “Kind of tickles, look…”

Before Harry could move Draco had wiped his finger on Harry’s cheek. It tingled, and Harry reached up to touch automatically.

“What did you…” he started to say, but the tingling became warmth, spreading quickly over his face…

“Draco?” he whispered.

“Harry,” Draco replied, his voice full of wonder.

Harry’s eyes were locked on Draco’s, the blue so mesmerising he could not look away, could not imagine ever wanting to take in any other view in his lifetime.

_Need to be close…_

Time slowed, becoming meaningless.

“Oh no,” a voice sounded, so far away. “They’ve touched it, there’s nothing we can do now.”

“It’s not amortentia, is it?” another voice asked.

“No, it makes people act on their innermost desires.”

 _So that’s what we’re doing,_ Harry thought absently. _Good, then._


End file.
